For newborns, almost everyone in the world is bigger, faster, more knowledgeable, and more able. Infants don’t have a lot of hang-ups about this. There’s no shame or envy. There’s just a sense of, “this is what the world is like.”

But then we begin to develop. And we develop differently. And we begin to notice this. And depending on how things play out, and depending on what we’re measuring, we might feel a little better-than. Or a little lesser-than. Or somewhere in the middle.

For tiny humans, however, it’s just about learning the next skill. How do I get food? How do I get attention? How do I move my body? What’s that thing over there? Did that sound just come from me?

As adults, we can learn from infants. We can re-adopt their sense of wonder. We can delight in learning new things. And most importantly, we can get back to growing little by little. Back to taking the next steps in our journey without feeling the overwhelm of conquering the next mile.

And sure: we can fuss and cry and nap every so often … if we think it will help.